The Detention Center
Clay County Jail
- Operated byClay County Sheriff's Office
- Jail address901 North Orange Avenue, Green Cove Springs, FL 32043
- Beds490 (per the sheriff's Detention/Jail page)
- VisitationRemote video visits; free onsite video visitation center at 815 N. Palmetto Avenue
- AccreditationSheriff states FCAC accreditation and Florida Model Jail Standards inspections; no report posted
- Jail AdministratorJoe Bucci, Detention Department Director
Source: Clay County Sheriff's Office — Detention/Jail · checked 2026-09-28
Transparency rating
5/10Partial- ✓The jail is named
- ✓Who is in custody
- ✓Beds and daily population
- ✓What it costs taxpayers
- ✗Deaths in custody — not published
- ✗PREA audits — not published
- ✗Independent inspection — not published
- ✗Who else it holds, and for how much — not published
- ✗How to post bond — not published
- ✓Phone, video and commissary rates
The Building
You paid for it. Here is what the record says it cost.
- Year builtNot found
- Original costNot found
- Paid for byNot found
- Beds490
Since then
- Not found
The Sheriff
Sheriff Michelle Cook
- Runs the jailYes — the Clay County Sheriff's Office operates the Clay County Jail through its Detention Department
- How the office is filledElected, four-year term
- Took officeSworn in 1 September 2020 after winning the election, per the sheriff's own page
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Clay County Sheriff's Office — Sheriff · checked 2026-09-28
The Judges
Florida's circuit and county judges are elected state judicial officers, not county officials. A judge sets the first conditions of release at first appearance, within 24 hours of arrest.
Who sets bail in Clay County
- Circuit Court: Florida's Fourth Judicial Circuit, which also serves Duval and Nassau (Fla. Stat. 26.021). Circuit judges are elected circuit-wide to six-year terms and hear felonies.
- County Court: the Clay County Court. County judges are elected countywide to six-year terms and hear misdemeanors.
- The county's bond schedule
- Share of the jail population held pretrial
- Median time from booking to first appearance
Source: the state judiciary · checked 2026-09-28
The Board of County Commissioners
They pay for the jail. In most counties the sheriff runs it; in some, the county does.
- What they controlThe sheriff's budget, including its separate line for corrections and detention: the sheriff submits it by June 1 and the board may amend, increase or reduce it (Fla. Stat. 30.49). The board also owns the jail building, and it decides by ordinance whether the sheriff or a county corrections department runs the jail (Fla. Stat. 951.061).
- What they don'tDay-to-day operations where the sheriff runs the jail. The sheriff is separately elected, and can appeal the board's budget cuts to the Governor and Cabinet sitting as the Administration Commission. No state agency inspects the jail; peer inspectors from other sheriffs' offices do.
- NoteCounty government site (claycountygov.com) could not be opened; agendas/minutes URL not confirmed.
- The boardClay County Board of County Commissioners
- Where the jail money is decidedNot found
Notes on the record
- Sheriff's site claysheriff.com confirmed as Clay County, Florida; sheriff Michelle Cook named on her own page.
- Detention page states 490 beds and names the Detention Director and two detention chiefs.
- Roster: the sheriff's Crime & Arrest Info page links its Police To Citizen inmate listing of 'persons currently incarcerated'.
- Budget: sheriff posts approved FY 2025-26 budget PDF, which includes a Detention function (booking, security, housing, food, medical, transport).
- Fees: jail-info page gives phone account terms ($25 minimum deposit, $100 maximum, 5% service fee, via Combined Public Communications).
- Sheriff says the jail passed FCAC and Florida Model Jail Standards inspections but posts no report, so inspections = no.
- No PREA, deaths-in-custody, bond-posting guidance or contract documents found on pages opened.
- Seat source is the sheriff's jail-info page (jail address in Green Cove Springs); the county government site was not reachable.
- What was tried: http://claysheriff.com, https://www.claysheriff.com root (first attempts), https://claysheriff.com, https://www.claycountygov.com, https://www.claysheriff.com/search/prea/ — refused (PROVENANCE_REQUIRED). Detention FAQ .docx returned unreadable binary.
- One search used.
- State inspection/oversight: Florida requires every county jail to meet the Florida Model Jail Standards and to be inspected each year, but the inspectors come from other sheriffs' offices, not a state agency, and state law does not require the reports to be published.
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Clay County and what it costs the people who live here. Nationally, almost 77% of the people who died in local jails in 2019 had not been convicted of anything, and suicide was the leading single cause of those deaths (Bureau of Justice Statistics, Mortality in Local Jails, 2000–2019).
How much is your sheriff — and your judge — costing you?
Your VOTE is POWERFUL.
The sheriff is elected. So are the county commissioners who pay for the jail, and the judges who set bail.
Names verified 2026-09-28 · dollars and outcomes still being gathered